Combined Jewish Philanthropies (CJP) is Greater Boston’s Jewish Federation with roots dating
back to the late 18th century. CJP centers its work around three strategic priorities: engaging the
next generation in Jewish life, creating new connections that strengthen Israel, and deepening
networks of caring and social justice. Within each of these areas are a myriad of funding
initiatives led by a team of full-time staff as well as volunteer commissions.
CJP’s complex model resulted in complicated and inconsistent messaging surrounding the
theory of change for each strategic priority area, with some funding initiatives having
independent theories of change and others not having a guiding framework to inform its
work. Over the years, various funding initiatives carried out measurement and evaluation
efforts, but there had never been an overarching system in place for funding initiatives or
strategic priority areas to consistently measure and evaluate their performance.
In 2014, Impact Catalysts (through its predecessor firm, Root Cause) worked with CJP to develop
a performance measurement system for the Next Generation pillar under a strategic priority
area as a pilot intended to establish a framework for other strategic initiatives. We developed
theories of change for each of the pillar’s funding initiatives and articulated each pillar’s
connection to CJP’s broader strategy, building a comprehensive performance measurement
system that allowed each funding initiative to measure, evaluate, and report out on progress on
achieving its intended impact as laid out in its theory of change.
The work within the Next Generation pillar served as a demonstration project that allowed CJP
to assess how to best design and implement a performance measurement system within a
strategic priority area. In 2015, we extended the framework to two other pillars of the
organization – Caring & Social Justice and Israel Advocacy – building an organization-wide
strategy for performance measurement.